Dr. Steven Harris

Monday, 17 February 2025

Steve has worked at BAE Systems for nearly 32 years, joining the company in 1988 having completed his PhD at Southampton University. His current role is the BAE Systems Head of External Partnerships and Programmes, a role that involves linking BAE Systems UK lines of business R&T requirements to activities in UK universities. As part of this role, he works closely with its Strategic University Partners, UKRI engaging in project development and the peer review process. He is also a member of EPSRC SAN.

Prior to this role he managed the BAE Systems internal research programme (£12m R&T Programme pa), a role that involved setting up and monitoring a large number of linked projects (typically 200 plus) within The Advanced Technology Centres, but also at universities and other institutions. The projects were in areas as diverse as welding to abnormal behaviour analysis in crowds.

Before these roles in the technology acquisition part of BAE Systems, Steve ran the Engineering Capability Programme (~£3m) for several years whilst also leading the Materials Engineering Research Group (16 direct reports) within BAE Systems Research Centre.